FIFA 16 (PS4)
FIFA 16 is a user friendly
football game that belongs in the genre of sports games. It expresses stylistic
conventions of the genre as inside the game you can play with practically any
major football team in a kick off match, in a tournament or on career mode.
FIFA is widely acclaimed as the best football game on the market, practically
down to its ‘ultimate team’ feature. This is where you can build your own squad
by buying packs or players off the market and lead them into online games
against friends or in tournaments. Another feature that has popularised the
game is its ‘FUT (FIFA Ultimate Team) Draft’ mode. This is where you can choose
a formation and players from a select group of for every position in the team.
There isn’t a specific
story in many of the different features in the game. Only in the Career Mode
option is there the opportunity for a story to be told but in all the other
game modes like Ultimate Team you, the player, write the story. The story that
is told throughout the career mode changes the gameplay in which you partake
in. Say for example if your star player gets injured and you go out of the FA
Cup, that changes the games in which you will be playing. As the more important
teams in the division come up to play you become a lot more determined and
focused as to what players to pick and what tactics to use. The story of the
season brings the player (audience) closer to the game as they become more like
a part of the team itself.
FIFA 16 was produced by the
game developers. The in game player faces were developed by taking multiple
photos of the actual players and combining them to form different emotions,
speech types and faces.
The players in the game can
be relevant to the target audience as the players in the game could be from a
team that the user supports. This would encourage them to use them more often
in the game. The characters in the game can be role models of the users so
could therefore appeal to the target audience. The characterisation has to be
very specific as the players in the game are meant to replicate the players in
real life, so the right stats have to be applied like pace, shooting and
dribbling. The strength of the characters is dependent on how they play in real
life. EA also carry out tests at the team’s training grounds to determine what
stats the player’s cards have.
The challenge of FIFA 16 is
to beat your opponent in the games of football, whether that is online, in a
tournament or just for fun in kick off mode. The player can change the
difficulty in which they play against; ranging from beginner to world class.
Having a more difficult challenge engages the player more so they become more
passionate about winning. The way in which the characters play to their
specific cards is the main key to success. The better the players, the more
they will be used by the audience. The gameplay engages with the narrative in
the career mode as the story of the football season is told throughout the
game. The gameplay is evolving only in terms of the gameplay. The game is
exactly the same concept, every year, with only some changes to the gameplay,
players and a couple of new features. Yet the loyal fans to FIFA still buy the
game every year due to the game’s ever growing popularity. This could be down
to people playing it on YouTube for example.
The target audience for the
game is males around 12-25. FIFA 16 is a game that can be played by any
football fan but the younger adult audience seem to enjoy the game more. The
game comes with free ‘packs’ which you can open to get new players and
consumables. This would appeal to the younger audience as they’d like a head
start in their ultimate team. The game appeals directly to the audience as the
game is all about football and the fans are all “football mad”. FIFA 16 appeals
to the target audience the most as it’s the game that all the other football fans
play, it’s the game with the most features and the best gameplay.
This game is available on
Playstation 3 and 4, xBox One and 360, PC, iOS and Android. The game is more
suited for the PlayStation and Xboxes’ as you can control the game that you are
playing a lot easier. The game is suited to the platform as you have the
controls in your hand, but on iOS for example, you have the device in your
hands which makes it harder to play.
Smashy Road Wanted (iOS/Android)
Smashy
Road is an adventure game that requires skill and imagination. It was designed
by app developer Remco Kortenoever. The
genre of the game is Action/Adventure. It was one of the most downloaded free games
in November 2015 so this shows that it is more popular than titles with a
similar objective.
The
story is that the driver of the vehicle is trying to escape the police by
driving round the city trying to lose them. Ultimately the police never lose
sight of the driver and every time you outrun the police for longer, heavier
troops are deployed to try and stop you including helicopters and tanks. You
receive more stars and points for the longer you stay away from the police. You
receive one point for every second you avoid them and the more you damage along
the way also, the more points you gain. The maximum number of stars you can
receive is 6 stars but the amount of points is unlimited. Smashy Road is a game
that you can’t complete; it runs on for as long as it takes for the police to
catch you. As you get more into the game, you become more interested in the
cars that you can unlock and how they can help you stay away from the police
for longer. These cars can be unlocked with cash that you receive as a daily
gift, for watching in game videos or in the game that you can collect them while
driving. These cars are then given out for 100 cash a time randomly via a
machine in the game, these cars range from Common – Legendary.
This
game could have been produced by
software such as Apple’s XCode IDE. The way in which the cars drive has
been specifically matched to their aesthetics and features, for example the
faster cars have better turning and the taller vehicles like the bus aren’t great
at it. The physics and mechanics are specifically enhanced to match the cars, however
the faster cars can sometimes go so fast that they glitch out and get stuck in
the surrounding buildings.
The
characters (the cars) could be relevant to the driving styles of the audience
or could meet the users’ desires to be the cars they would like to drive in the
future. The aesthetics of the cars usually appeal the most but it can also be
the way that they drive, their speed or the bonuses that convince the users to
use them in game. These bonuses are only available on the legendary cars
however, they include gaining 5x more cash in game while driving, an extra life
if you get caught and a truck that drops oil to make the police vehicles slide
all over the roads. In my opinion the legendary vehicles are the strongest and
the most fun to play with.
The
challenge in this game is to outrun the police for as long as possible. You
feel a slight adrenalin rush when you play this game as you feel like you’re
breaking the rules and this would never be done in real life! There is only one
level but in my opinion the cars are the levels. The more cash you gain, the
more vehicles you can unlock. There are however different scenes like Egypt for
example. The elements that are key to the games success are the new cars that
you can unlock and the extra features that they can have. If the game only had regular
cars but with a different design, this would be less appealing to the user.
The
target audience for this game would be younger adults and teenagers who are
into fast cars and driving games. The fact that the whole game revolves around
fast cars makes this app immediately attractive for motor heads, young and old.
The game isn’t as technical as other console games like GTA but nevertheless on
the iOS/Android market I believe that it currently is one of the best and simplest
racing games on the market.
Wii Sports (Nintendo Wii)
Wii
Sports is a sport game that has been on the market since the launch of the
original Nintendo Wii and it belongs to the sports genre. This title is one of
the best selling sports games of all time, with 82.72 million copies sold
worldwide as of September 2015. As Wii Sports is the original sports game it
will always be considered as one of the best and one of the most influential
games on the market as it gave ideas for other similar games to other
developers for games like Game Party.
There
isn’t a story in this game but there’s an objective, to either beat the CPU or
a player that is playing with you. You can beat the records of yourself, your
family/friends or the CPU. The gameplay is revolved around the characters and
their movements in the games/mini games that are being played. The characters
are the ‘mii’s’ that the users are playing with; which can be designed to look
like the user in the wii menu.
A
game like Wii Sports will have been produced using the Wii Engine. The mii’s
and the other characters will have been developed and rendered with software
such as Maya. All of the sports that are in this game have been physically and
mechanically developed to suit the mii characters used. For example in the
boxing ring it is going to be easier for a larger, taller mii to defeat a
smaller, skinnier one.
The
characters are relevant to the target audience as they can be customised to fit
the specific features of the users. The appeal of the characters to the target
audience is that they can use someone that is relevant to them in the game that
they are playing. The costumes of the characters differ depending on which
sport you are playing in the game; the clothes would change if you were playing
boxing or golf for example. The characters are as strong as the users make them
in the mii customiser. In the actual game the characters don’t look very
strong, this could be due to their size or weight.
The
challenge is to beat your competitor or the CPU in the sports games/challenges
in the game. You can also try to beat your/your family or friends high scores
in the challenges section. On top of this you can also try to improve your wii
sport age by completing challenges measuring different aspects of your skills. There
aren’t any levels in the main games but in the challenges mode there are three
versions of the game, all ranging in difficulty. The games elements are family
orientated and easy to use, this is why the game is so successful; people of
all ages can play it and it’s very easy to pick up.
The
target audience for this game is any family who is looking for an entertaining
game that anybody can play. People of all ages are able to easily pick up the
controls and the simplistic ideas of the games will appeal to this target
audience in particular. Wii Sports
outsold other games in the same category at the time of release, as it was one
of the first games on the entire Wii market. The popularity of the game is
mainly down to its easy to use features and simple controls for all family fun.
The
only platform that this game has been developed for is the original Nintendo
Wii. The wii remote is perfect for this kind of game as there are hardly any
controls that are required to work the characters.
Top Eleven (iOS/Android)
Top Eleven is a football manager
game that allows you to take control of your own team. This game belongs to the
sports category of games. It shows characteristics of the genre by having
features like transfers, building stadiums and negotiations. Top Eleven is a
very detailed football manager app and offers many qualities however it is not
as gofod overall as a game like the Football Manager series. This is because as
it is only available on iOS and Android devices, the users are not able to
fully maximise the gaming experience.
The story begins with your
own side. You are placed in League Level 1 and must work your way up the
leagues. You do this by winning the games in your league. If you finish in the
top 7 teams in your league you are promoted to the next league up, you also get
entered into the Cup for achieving this. If you also finish in the top then you
are also entered into the Champions League. Just like regular football you play
each team in your league twice; for every win you gain three points, for every
draw one point and no points for a loss. The characters would be the players in
your team, you have to look after them so that they don’t get injured or lose
morale. If your players lose morale they become unhappier so won’t play as
well. You can also interact with the assistant manager in games as they give
you advice on tactics you should change or substitutions you should make.
As this game is for iOS/Android, it could have been produced by software such as Apple’s Xcode IDE, where you can build, edit, test and publish your own apps. This is a complicated process involving coding but it is a great method to produce a fully functioning app.
The characters are relevant
to the target audience as they are in the team and under control of the user. The
characters name and nationality can also be changed in the team page but at a
cost of two tokens. The user can then match their dream player identically to
them. The user can also train the players into having different roles to play
on the pitch like DMC (Defensive Centre-Midfielder) for example. The players
can also be trained to have a special ability like ‘Aerial Master’ or
‘Free-Kick Specialist’. The characters are stronger depending on their
abilities and strengths. The higher a rating a player is, the better they are
in the game. Abilities that decide this include speed and strength.
The challenge is that
you’re playing the other similarly matched teams in your league that could be
either better or worse than you. The objective is to beat them so that you and
your team can move up the league and get promoted to the higher divisions. The
higher up the leagues you go, the more difficult it becomes to win the league
and games. You can help yourself and your team by investing and buying players
from the transfer’s page. You can do this by the regular transfer market, from
the scout or by negotiations from other managers. You buy the players with
tokens and cash; the cash you earn from playing the game, the audience that
come and watch in terms of ticket sales, from sponsors and you can also buy it
from the store. The tokens you can earn from sponsors or you can buy them as
in-app purchases. The gameplay is evolving the way you shape it, if you bring
in new players, change the tactics or the formation then the team will play
differently.
The target audience are any
football fans. The age range is very mixed as from personal experience I have played
matches against kids that look around 12 years old to fully-grown men that look
about 50! The game would appeal to a male target audience more as stereotypically
it is shown that men enjoy football more than women. The Top Eleven team
constantly try to gain new members to their page by trying tactics like
tweeting new offers or experiences, sponsoring YouTubers to make videos
outlining the apps features and get them to play games against each other or releasing
free items like kits of the football team that they sponsor, Biggleswade
United.
This game is available for
iOS and Android devices currently only. The game is best suited to this in my
opinion as the menu and lay out are designed for smaller screens.
